Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett reacted to President Donald Trump‘s second term in office in a new interview with journalist Bari Weiss.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Barrett was appointed to the High Court by Trump at the end of his first term in office. She has emerged as a key swing vote and is viewed as less rigidly conservative than some of the other Republican-appointed justices. Some of her rulings, such as her stance on the administration’s attempted freeze on foreign aid, have drawn scrutiny from Trump-aligned conservatives.
She will remain a key vote on Trump’s policy as his agenda faces legal challenges on myriad fronts.
What to Know
Barrett, who is promoting a new book, Listening to the Law, out on September 9, was asked about the Trump administration and concerns about a constitutional crisis during an interview with Weiss, founder of The Free Press, in New York City on Thursday, reported CNN.
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According to CNN, she was asked about the “current tumult” of the Trump presidency. The country remains deeply divided on key political and legal issues ranging from the economy to immigration. But Barrett said that she believes the Constitution remains “alive and well,” and that the country is “committed to the rule of law.”
“We’re in a time of passionate disagreement in America. But we have been in times of passionate disagreement before,” Barrett said, according to CNN. “And we have come out stronger for it.”
She said that conflicts between the executive and judiciary are “not new.”
“This is a dance that we’ve seen before,” Barrett said.
The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 majority, has generally sided with Trump on key issues so far, but Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, also a conservative, have been willing to buck the administration from time to time.
Trump himself has criticized the court, including after a majority of justices in May rejected administration efforts to resume deportations of Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act.
“THE SUPREME COURT WON’T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!” he responded in a Truth Social post.
What People Are Saying
Barrett told CBS News during an interview this week: “Describe the doctrine in the book, and that is the state of the law, which I described in the book, because I want people to understand it. I want Americans to understand the law, and it’s not just an opinion poll about whether the Supreme Court thinks something is good or whether the Supreme Court thinks something is bad.”
Legal scholar Kate Shaw, who clerked for former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, told journalist Ezra Klein this week: “They are genuinely committed to a substantive division of both the presidency and the nation that aligns reasonably well with Trump’s. I don’t assume they have a lot of personal affection for Donald Trump. I actually think for Roberts, he probably doesn’t—although I don’t know that. But I have long resisted—and I’m finding it harder to resist—really reductive, partisan explanations for their conduct. In particular, all they have done to shore up his presidency in the dark of night, where they are not going to be held accountable by the public for doing it. I think there is a lot of additional evidence that they really just are partisan justices in support of Donald Trump.”
What Happens Next
Barrett will continue to be watched as a critical swing vote on the Supreme Court amid the upcoming term, which begins in October.
